Resources
Gordon's Great Escape video trailer
Gordon isn’t any old balloon. He’s up and off on a trip around the world! His adventures lead him far and wide. But will he survive without going BANG! Gordon’s Great Escape is an exciting picture book from the bestselling, award winning creators of Supertato, Barry the Fish with Fingers and Norman the Slug – Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet.
Aliens Love Underpants anniversary video
Celebrate 10 years of the bestselling Aliens Love Underpants series with this fun trailer!
Aliens Love Underpants activity sheets
Download these fun colouring sheets for your Chatterbooks group
Faber Chatterbooks Activity Pack
Meet Squishy McFluff, Dave Pigeon & Woozy the Wizard, three fun characters from Faber. This pack gives descriptions and tasters from all the books, suggestions for more reading, plus discussion and activity ideas for your Chatterbooks reading groups.
The Kingdom of Women by Choo Waihong - an extract
Choo Waihong was a corporate lawyer with top law firms in Singapore and California before she took early retirement in 2006 to travel and write. She lived for six years with the Mosuo tribe and now spends half the year with them in Yunnan, China. Our library reading panel enjoyed learning about The Mosuo tribe from the The Kingdom of Women – here are some of their comments: “This was a fantastic book. Well-written, engaging and thoroughly interesting.” “The subject of this book is the...
Lots teachers' notes
Download these teachers’ notes for Lots by Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton
Triangle activity sheets
Download these fun activity sheets inspired by Triangle by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen to share with your Chatterbooks group!
Greenpeace Captain by Peter Willcox - an extract
Peter Willcox has been a Captain with Greenpeace for over 30 years, making him the most experienced captain in the organization. An activist for nearly his entire life, beginning by marching in Selma behind Martin Luther King Jr. with his family at age twelve. Captain Willcox estimates he’s sailed over 300,000 miles in virtually every corner of the globe. Our library reading panel really enjoyed Greenpeace Captain – here are some of their comments: “This was written in an easy style and I...
The Dry by Jane Harper - an extract
Jane Harper has worked as a print journalist for thirteen years both in Australia and the UK. She lives in Melbourne and currently writes for the Herald Sun. Jane is originally from the UK and moved to Australia in 2008. The Dry is her first novel. Our Radio 2 panel loved The Dry – here are some of their comments: “This was an immensely enjoyable read which follows two separate mysteries: Did Luke Hadler really murder his family and take his own life? Who killed Ellie Deacon twenty years...
Gilded Cage by Dr. Vic James - discussion questions
Vic James is a current affairs TV director who loves stories in all their forms, and Gilded Cage is her debut novel. She as twice judged the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize, has made films for BBC1, BBC2, and Channel 4 News, and is a huge Wattpadd.com success story. Under its previous title, Slavedays, her book was read online over a third of a million times in first draft. And it went on to win Wattpad’s ‘Talk of the Town’ award in 2015 – on a site showcasing 200 million stories. Vic James...
Gilded Cage by Dr. Vic James - a prologue
A thrilling Orwellian vision of Britain, with a rebellious Hunger Games heart. Gilded Cage is the astonishing debut novel from Vic James, and the first title in her electrifying The Dark Gifts Trilogy. Britain’s magically-skilled aristocracy compels all commoners to serve them for ten years – and now it’s the Hadley’s turn. Abi Hadley is assigned to England’s most ruthless noble family. The secrets she uncovers could win her freedom – or break her heart. Her brother Luke is enslaved in a...
The Novel of the Century by David Bellos - an introduction
The Novel of the Century brings to life the extraordinary story of how Victor Hugo managed to write his novel of the downtrodden despite a revolution, a coup d’état and political exile; how he pulled off the deal of the century to get it published, and set it on course to become the novel that epitomizes the grand sweep of history in the nineteenth century. Placing a century of scholarship into narrative form and packed full of information about the background and design of Les Misérables,...
How to run a reading circle
Adapted from article by Angie Simms- NATECLA News, Autumn 2010 and inspired by Oxford Bookworms. With thanks to Jenny Roden. Looking to experiment with your reading group? The reading circle is an exciting new approach which could enhance your reading group meetings. Originally designed for English language learners, the model can be applied to any reading group who wants to get creative with their approach. The model breaks down the group into five specific roles, which have been designed...
Shakespeare Week 2017 Chatterbooks Activity Pack
Here is a special Chatterbooks activity pack for Shakespeare Week 2017 with details of books for young people about Shakespeare, retellings of his plays, ideas for discussion and activities in your Chatterbooks reading group and suggestions for more reading.
Fathers and Sons by Howard Cunnell - an extract
As a boy growing up on the south coast of England, Howard Cunnell’s sense of self was dominated by his father’s absence. Now, years later, he is a father, and his daughter is becoming his son. Starting with his own childhood in the Sussex beachlands, Howard tells the story of the years of self-destruction that defined his young adulthood and the escape he found in reading and the natural world. Still he felt compelled to destroy the relationships that mattered to him. Saved by love and...
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai - discussion questions
Elan Mastai was born in Vancouver and lives in Toronto with his wife and children. He writes movies and his credits include the award-winning script for What If, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan and Adam Driver. He is currently developing the screenplay for All Our Wrong Todays which has been optioned by Paramount with producer Amy Pascal on board. All Our Wrong Todays is Elan’s debut novel. Our reading panel loved All Our Wrong Todays – here are some of their comments: “This is one of...
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai - an extract
You know the future that people in the ‘50s imagined? Flying cars, teleportation, jetpacks and moon bases? Well, it happened. And it was just as great as we hoped it would be. It’s 2016 and in Tom’s world, technology has solved all of humanity’s problems – there’s no war, no poverty, no under-ripe avocados. Unfortunately, Tom isn’t happy. He’s lost the girl of his dreams. And what do you do when you’re heartbroken and have access to a time machine? Something very stupid indeed. Finding...
S.C.R.E.A.M: The Mummy's Revenge book extract
Read the opening chapter of S.C.R.E.A.M: The Mummy’s Revenge, the latest book from Andrew Beasley
Uncle Shawn and Bill video extract
A.L. Kennedy reads the opening from her novel Uncle Shawn and Bill and the Almost Entirely Unplanned Adventure, illustrated by Gemma Correll, in which a brave and handsome young badger called Bill meets two extremely dreadful sisters and begins an adventure he may not survive.* *He also has a sore ear and remembers that he doesn’t like shorts, especially if he is wearing them.
The Cherry Pie Princess activity sheets
Download these sheets inspired by The Cherry Pie Princess to share with your Chatterbooks group. This bundle includes a drawing activity, short story prompts and more!
World Book Day 2017 Chatterbooks Activity Pack
This year is very special. It is the 20th year there’s been a World Book Day, and on 2nd March 2017 children of all ages will come together to appreciate reading. In this pack you’ll find lots of ideas for your group’s activities and discussion, all linked to the World Book Day 2017 titles.
Help! I'm An Alien activity sheet
Download this fun wordsearch inspired by the hilarious Help! I’m An Alien Series for your Chatterbooks group!
Rita the Rescuer Activity sheet
Download this Rita the Rescuer colouring sheet to share with your group!
World Book Day 2017 Toolkit
Are you wondering how you can support World Book Day 2017? This Toolkit has been designed so that authors, illustrators, publishers, librarians and booksellers can join in with #WorldBookDay20. There are loads of ideas, such as how you could use social media to promote your World Book Day event; a timeline of important dates and a selection of activities that can be done in various workplaces. Download the Toolkit today and see what you can do to celebrate World Book Day on Thursday 2 March!
CWA 2017 Longlist - Brian McGilloway
Brian McGilloway is the bestselling author of eight crime novels, five featuring Garda Inspector Benedict Devlin and three in the DS Lucy Black series. In addition to being shortlisted for a CWA Dagger and the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year, he is a past recipient of the Ulster University McCrea Literary Award and, in 2014, won the BBC Tony Doyle Award for his screenplay, Little Emperors. Brian’s ninth novel, Bad Blood, again featuring DS Lucy Black, will be released in May...
CWA 2017 Longlist - Chris Ewan
Born in Taunton in 1976, Chris Ewan now lives in Somerset with his wife, Jo, and their daughter. Safe House, his first stand-alone thriller, was a number one bestseller in 2012 and was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award. Dead Line, his second thriller, was published in 2013 and is optioned for film. Dark Tides was shortlisted for CrimeFest’s eDunnit award for the best crime fiction eBook, and Long Time Lost, described in the Independent as ‘a masterful...
CWA 2017 Longlist - Nicola Upson
Nicola Upson was born in Suffolk and read English at Downing College, Cambridge. Her debut novel, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of crime novels whose main character is Josephine Tey – one of the leading authors of Britain’s Golden Age of crime writing. She lives with her partner in Cambridge and spends much of her time in Cornwall. Nicola has been longlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library 2017. Download the resource to find out more about Nicola, and the book she would...
CWA 2017 Longlist - Alison Bruce
Alison Bruce is a crime novelist and creator of the Cambridge-based Gary Goodhew series. Her seventh novel is Cambridge Black. She has also written two factual crime books and a number of short stories. Alison is an RLF Fellow at ARU in Cambridge. She is keen to promote creative writing and frequently speaks at libraries, schools and writers’ groups. Since 2008 she has sponsored Fordham Primary School’s storyteller-of-the-year award and she is the patron of Lakenheath Library in...
Thin Air by Michelle Paver - discussion questions
It is 1935, and young medic Stephen Pearce travels to India to join an expedition with his brother, Kits. The elite team of five will climb Kangchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain and one of mountaineering’s biggest killers. No one has scaled it before, and they are, quite literally, following in the footsteps of one of the most famous mountain disasters of all time – the 1906 Lyell Expedition. Five men lost their lives back then, overcome by the atrocious weather, misfortune and...
Holding by Graham Norton - discussion questions
Duneen is a quiet place, far enough from the big towns to have kept its own rhythms. Its residents include cast down policeman PJ who lives a lonely, uneventful life punctuated only by the next meal – until now; the beautiful and mysterious family of three spinster sisters each with their own secrets and sorrows; and of course, the town’s gossip who think she knows the answers. When a grim discovery is made on a building site up by the old school, it becomes the catalyst for half lived...
